MYANMAR
Rebels admit beheadings
A rebel group yesterday said its members beheaded two prisoners in a rare admission of deadly violence, as it fights to maintain control of the western borderlands. The incident, which “violated military discipline,” occurred in February last year during an Arakan Army (AA) offensive on Kyauktaw township in Rakhine state, group spokesman Khaing Thu Kha said. “Our local [AA] militias were unable to control their anger and committed crimes ... in retaliation for the terrorist Myanmar army soldiers who had unjustly arrested, tortured and killed their families,” he said. In a two-minute clip that circulated on social media, about seven men, some wearing AA uniforms and holding firearms, kicked and beat two shirtless men on the ground. In another video, the same alleged killers were seen beheading the captives with machete-like knives.
PHILIPPINES
Manila amenable to Interpol
Manila would respond favorably if Interpol is asked by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants related to its probe into former president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs,” a top official said yesterday. Thousands of people were killed in Duterte’s crackdown on drugs launched in 2016, many in mysterious circumstances, prompting the ICC to launch an investigation into possible crimes against humanity. Duterte and police have denied activists’ allegations of systematic executions and cover-ups, and say drug suspects were killed in self defense. “If the ICC makes a move, and courses the move through the Interpol, and the Interpol makes the request to us for the arrest of delivery of the custody of a person subject to ICC jurisdiction, we will respond favorably or positively to the Interpol request,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin told a media briefing.
UNITED KINGDOM
Rolls-Royce wins sub deal
The Ministry of Defence yesterday said it had awarded Rolls-Royce a ￡9 billion (US$11.2 billion) eight-year contract to design, make and provide support services to nuclear reactors that power its fleet of submarines. The deal would strengthen the Royal Navy’s continuous at-sea deterrent — under which at least one nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine patrols the seas at all times — while also boosting the AUKUS defense pact with the US and Australia, the ministry said. Minister of Defense John Healey said the contract with Rolls-Royce, which also makes engines for aircraft, would save the kingdom ￡400 million over eight years by combining multiple contracts into one.
FRANCE
Fake tracks swamp Deezer
Music streaming site Deezer yesterday said that one in 10 tracks uploaded to the streaming service each day is either fake or just noise created by artificial intelligence programs. The company’s fraud detection technologies, rolled out in 2023, discovered that “around 10,000 tracks completely generated by AI are uploaded to the platform every day, representing around 10 percent of the total,” the Paris-based firm said in a statement. The success of its technologies, which can identify AI content “without the need for extensive training on specific databases,” had led it to seek two patents last month. Deezer says it aims to pay genuine musicians better by weeding out fake songs that are then streamed by fraudulent accounts created in order to remunerate the “artists.” Many fake tracks can clone the voices of existing artists, which currently cannot be copyrighted, or copycat popular songs.
One of Japan’s biggest pop stars and best-known TV hosts, Masahiro Nakai, yesterday announced his retirement over sexual misconduct allegations, reports said, in the latest scandal to rock Japan’s entertainment industry. Nakai’s announcement came after now-defunct boy band empire Johnny & Associates admitted in 2023 that its late founder, Johnny Kitagawa, for decades sexually assaulted teenage boys and young men. Nakai was a member of the now-disbanded SMAP — part of Johnny & Associates’s lucrative stable — that swept the charts in Japan and across Asia during the band’s nearly 30 years of fame. Reports emerged last month that Nakai, 52, who since
EYEING A SOLUTION: In unusually critical remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump said he was ‘destroying Russia by not making a deal’ US President Donald Trump on Wednesday stepped up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to make a peace deal with Ukraine, threatening tougher economic measures if Moscow does not agree to end the war. Trump’s warning in a social media post came as the Republican seeks a quick solution to a grinding conflict that he had promised to end before even starting his second term. “If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
PINEAPPLE DEBATE: While the owners of the pizzeria dislike pineapple on pizza, a survey last year showed that over 50% of Britons either love or like the topping A trendy pizzeria in the English city of Norwich has declared war on pineapples, charging an eye-watering ￡100 (US$124) for a Hawaiian in a bid to put customers off the disputed topping. Lupa Pizza recently added pizza topped with ham and pineapple to its account on a food delivery app, writing in the description: “Yeah, for ￡100 you can have it. Order the champagne too! Go on, you monster!” “[We] vehemently dislike pineapple on pizza,” Lupa co-owner Francis Wolf said. “We feel like it doesn’t suit pizza at all,” he said. The other co-owner, head chef Quin Jianoran, said they kept tinned pineapple
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